Currently, Cattle Decapitation is taking time off from touring to write their follow up to 2009's The Harvest Floor, but they have scheduled a few local shows throughout the coming months. I was very pleased to hear that they would be making the drive up here from San Diego for a show only a short distance from my house. The venue for the night was Chain Reaction, a small hole in the wall club in Anaheim that has been around since the mid '90s.

The lineup for this show consisted of a number of other local bands - none of which I have any interest in - so I showed up around 8:30. Upon my arrival one of the bands had just finished up their set, so I walked over to the merch tables to see what Cattle Decapitation had. They were sold out of a lot of shirts since they aren't on tour, but I was able to get a nice black and white design in my size for only $12. I was surprised to see that they had their first album, Human Jerky, on picture disc and their second album, Homovore, on CD. They also had Murder Construct's EP on vinyl and CD.

At this time Bedlam of Cacophony was setting up on stage and they took their sweet time getting everything ready. I had listened to them a few years ago and did not care for their music at all; as anticipated, seeing them perform did not change my opinion. I could see that they had some talent, but their songs were absolutely atrocious. They have no idea how to write anything the least bit memorable. Needless to say, I was quite pleased when their set was over. Now I only had one more band to sit through before Cattle Decapitation, and that band was Sacrificial Slaughter. They were much better than the previous band and had a considerable amount of talent, but they majorly lacked in the vocal department. Their vocalist completely ruins their music for me, which is rather disheartening considering the musicians actually have potential. Aside from the vocals, the kick drums were too punchy for my tastes. That being said, the crowd did seem to enjoy them.

Waist Deep In My Filth

Ruthless & Truthless

Submission

Forced Incarceration

Spontaneous Suicide

Compound Fracture

80 Proof Justice

Reign of the Hammer

Imminent Domain

After they finished I went over to the front of the stage to get a spot for Cattle Decapitation. They did not use an intro recording, so when they finished the sound check they went straight into "The Gardeners of Eden" without much warning. My eyes were fixated on Travis as he belched out the first guttural and seamlessly changed the pitch to his high shriek. He is able perfectly replicate his inhuman vocals in a live setting without messing up any of his lines. On stage he is an animal, constantly drooling, spitting, and as blowing chunks of snot out of his nose. At times he would spit in the air and catch it in his mouth, while other times catching in his hand and then proceeding to wipe it all over his shirt whilst looking into the crowd with a psychopathic stare. I was standing in front of Josh for the whole set, so I also watched him do his insane, sporadic guitar work. All of the band members remarkable were from beginning to end. It's hard to beat a performance by Cattle Decapitation, as not many bands can play with so much energy, yet flawlessly execute their parts. The setlist was great as well, although I would have loved to hear a song off of Humanure. However, I was not expecting them to play anything pre-To Serve Man, so I was pleasantly surprised. Also, the last song in the set was a brand new song that they had not played live yet. It didn't seem like they had planned this, because Travis asked Josh how they were going to start it and then he said to the crowd, "We really shouldn't be playing this. We don't even know if we'll pull it off." Then he gave a little speech before introducing the title, which he said may or may not change. The song seemed to be in the same style of The Harvest Floor, so I was very happy. Of course, the album is only in the beginning stages of the writing process, but I am eagerly awaiting it. I had a great time despite the lackluster openers and I hope to see Cattle Decapitation again soon!

Hope they bust out the new one at SBtW.
Decap/Recap is almost always a "we have not been cut off yet and it's a good crowd" improvised ending, but I don't think they've done it in a few years so it's good to see they haven't abandoned Human Jerky all together.
Diarrhea of the Mouth is fucking AWESOME. I really hope that get's retained. I've seen them a shit ton of times and never seen anything off Homovore, although I think that's the one they play if ever since they hate that album for some reason.
I still wish they wouldn't be playing the same set they have since Harvest Floor came out, but if they keep the old shit and a new song for their festival slot I'll be pretty happy.

Decap/Recap is almost always a "we have not been cut off yet and it's a good crowd" improvised ending, but I don't think they've done it in a few years so it's good to see they haven't abandoned Human Jerky all together.

Diarrhea of the Mouth is fucking AWESOME. I really hope that get's retained. I've seen them a shit ton of times and never seen anything off Homovore, although I think that's the one they play if ever since they hate that album for some reason.

Yeah, that would be cool if they kept it in. I'm hoping that after they put out the new album they will change up the set more and maybe bring back something from Humanure.

They keep Humanure shit in the mix, depends on the show I think, but I'm sure it will be back.
I've seen Reduced to Paste, Humanure, Bukkake Tsunami and Chummified and I first saw them in 2007. On the Harvest Floor initial tour they did the title track and Chummified.